The Bernard Lee Poker Show 11-10: 2018 WSOPE Champ, Jack Sinclair

In this episode of The Bernard Lee Poker Show on the PokerNews Podcast Network, Bernard Lee interviews Jack Sinclair, the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event champion.

In this week’s interview, which is part one of a two-part interview, Sinclair discusses how he got started in poker, his friendships with poker pro Philipp Gruissem and Anton Morgenstern and his run in the 2017 WSOP Main Event, where he finished in eighth place.

Bernard asks Jack how he feels to win such a prestigious event. “Honestly, I’m so tired. It’s been a crazy week. Six days of poker…I’m pretty exhausted…Emotionally, I’m over the moon, of course. It’s just been an incredible feeling. I still can’t really believe it.”

7:15

Jack discusses how unbelievable it is to make the 2018 WSOP Europe Main Event final table a year after he made the 2017 WSOP Main Event final table in Las Vegas, where he ended up finishing in eighth place. “The World Series (of Poker) in Vegas was uber surreal because it was my first time in Vegas. It was surreal from start to finish.”

8:21

Jack discusses how he originally went to Surrey University to study music and sound recording, and eventually got into poker during his final year at school. “I basically fell in love with the game right off the bat.”

9:55

Jack discusses his multitude of music jobs after he graduated from university.

10:50

Jack talks about his decision to give poker a shot, playing only tournaments online. “I decided to have a proper go at the start of 2016. I wasn’t enjoying being in the music business much…It’s very bad pay and loads of people trying to do it.”

12:41

Jack recalls his online playing schedule during this time. “I basically played every night. I occasionally played a day schedule which is a very under-utilized strategy for people playing small stakes.”

14:05

Jack discusses his initial coaching session with German poker pro Philipp Gruissem. “The latter half of 2016, I was in a pretty big downswing, things weren’t going very well…And on a random day, I was browsing on PocketFives and I saw Phil Gruissem’s page…I saw a little blurb that he was offering coaching…I thought it can’t hurt to get some guidance (from Gruissem).”

16:21

Jack ends up rooming with Gruissem in Malta and gets an unbelievable education playing online poker next to him day after day. “For the most part between February and May, we were just playing online every day pretty much. I was grinding six days a week or so. We were just sitting next to each other and play. When I would bust all my tournaments, I would just sweat his game and he would talk about hands. When he would bust his tournaments, he would sweat my game and give me some coaching right there. So, it was a complete transformation of my game. I went from being a small winner in very small games to a pretty big winner in slightly higher games online.”

20:25

Jack imitates Philipp Gruissem’s German accent.

22:30

Jack remembers that he originally wasn’t planning on going to the 2017 WSOP, but another player, Anton Morgenstern (who finished 20th and 22nd in the 2013 and 2015 WSOP Main Events, respectively), asked him to go. They ended up rooming together during the 2017 WSOP. “He (Anton) was my live tournament coach. Phil had taught me so much about online (poker). I really learned a lot about the live game from Anton.”

26:04

Jack describes his transition from online to live tournaments. “Live and online are totally different…You can really make a lot more detailed decisions live. You have a lot more information to use in basically every hand.”

Bernard continues his interview with Jack and asks him about his mindset entering 2017 WSOP. “I was really just happy for the experience. It was my first time in (Las) Vegas. The whole trip was just me happy to be there. And trying to play as well as I can and learn as much as I can. Those were my goals going in.”

31:00

Jack describes his first impressions of his first WSOP. “I was pretty surprised by everything. It’s just so huge, the Main Event and (Las) Vegas in general. There are so many people playing poker.”

31:53

Jack talks about his 2017 WSOP summer, on and off the felt.

33:58

Jack discusses his mindset entering the 2017 WSOP Main Event. “I was very happy to be able to play it. I use to watch it back on TV back when I was at university. The idea of playing in the Main Event was always kind of like a dream to go there and play it. I assumed I would do it when I was 50 or something…I was just excited to be able play it and happy to be there. But also, the goal was always to make money.”

35:12

Jack recalls how the 2017 WSOP Main Event started out, which was fairly slow and steady for the first several days of the tournament.

36:34

Jack discusses what he was thinking after Day 6 where he finished third out of 27 players remaining. “I was obviously pretty amazed at the day I had, but when I went back to my hotel, I didn’t think about the final table at all…It honestly didn’t cross my mind. It was just so surreal to be in that situation in the first place. The thought of making the final table was just so far out of my reality that it just didn’t even seem possible, so I didn’t even think about it…I didn’t really think about the final table until we got 10-handed. That was when I first realized that I could make it.”

38:19

Jack remembers that he didn’t really pay attention to the pay jumps after Day 6. “I remember I was checking at the payouts on Day 6 and I remember when it got over the $100K mark, I was like ‘That’s nice.’ And then I really didn’t look at it again.”

39:38

Jack discusses his pure focus on playing during Day 7 of the 2017 WSOP Main Event. “This tournament was the first experience I had of being purely focused on the game…It was almost like thoughtless the whole time I was playing…It felt like I was being given the answers when I was thinking about the hand. It was something higher than me was providing the correct play. And I was just doing it.”

42:41

Jack recalls his exhaustion when the 2017 WSOP Main Event regrouped 10-handed and his unfortunate bluff against Scott Blumstein holding jack-four offsuit. “We had reached 10 players and we were going to regroup. We took a 15-minute break. And at that moment, everything hit me at once. I realized just how tired I was. And the situation kind of got to me.”

47:45

Jack describes his mindset after the 2017 WSOP Main Event final table was officially set. “I was obviously pretty devastated about that hand because I really felt like I had played the best poker of my life for that day. Then just one hand, to blow off such a huge amount of equity in the tournament. I did struggle a lot that night…Not a happy bunny that’s for sure.”

49:53

Jack discusses how he got over that mistimed bluff versus Scott Blumstein. “Yeah, it took a while to get over it, but the thing is I also had to celebrate the fact that I just made the Main Event final table and a huge amount of money. So, afterward, it was a celebration, it wasn’t a miserable situation.”

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